Strictly Confidential

by Lynda Aicher

  “Why?”

  Her shrug tried to be dismissive, but the concern in her eyes said otherwise. “Curious, I guess.”

  “Curious?” Kennedy stared at her, lost. “About what?” This wasn’t like her friend, at all. They didn’t dig into each other’s business unless they were invited. That’s just how they worked.

  A little smile lifted the corner of Dani’s mouth. “About what put that happy look on your face. Or should I say who?” Her smile spread. “Was it Matt?”

  Kennedy looked away, embarrassed and happy at once. How had things progressed so quickly? “Maybe,” she hedged, but her grin confirmed Dani’s assumption.

  “That’s good, right?”

  Was it? “Yes.” And no, but she wasn’t going to think about the downfalls. Not when that flutter was still going on in her chest.

  Dani looped her arm through Kennedy’s and started a slow stroll back to the dining room. A good six inches taller than her, Dani had an intimidation factor that her beauty only added to. Where women became jealous, men reacted with a need to conquer. Dani wanted none of it but handled all of it with a reserved grace.

  “He seemed like a very nice guy,” Dani offered. “Good manners. Charming if quiet. Trevor likes him.”

  Kennedy stopped. “Trevor?”

  “Yes.” Dani started walking again, forcing her to do the same. “He wouldn’t have sat Matt at my table if he didn’t.”

  “And what am I supposed to do with that?” What did Trevor have to do with anything—except everything. The man could be infuriating, but he took care of his people, and she’d been lucky enough to become one of them many years ago.

  The din of the dining room stretched around the corner to reach them. That was her world. Matt had showed that he could blend into hers, but how would she do in his? What if his kids didn’t like her? What if she didn’t like them? Was this all a big mistake that should’ve ended after a single night of great sex?

  “Hey.” Dani nudged her. “Why the sad face? You were happy a minute ago.”

  “Do you ever have doubts?” she asked instead of answering.

  Dani’s self-deprecating laugh said it all. “Of course. Who doesn’t?” She drew to a stop, turning to face Kennedy. “Take a chance, Ken. What will it hurt?”

  Everything? Nothing? “Oh, my God.” She dropped her head back, squeezing her eyes closed on a huff. “I’m thirty-six years old, yet I’m acting like a teenager.” The prolonged silence that followed forced Kennedy to drag her eyes open to look at her friend.

  “You were never like this in your teens,” Dani stated.

  Kennedy snorted her agreement. “Right?” She’d thought the world was hers back then and had treated it as such. She’d never been tempted by romance or the false promises it brought. Not back then. “What happened?”

  “You grew up.” Dani smiled at her scowl. “Sex is easy. It’s the relationships that are hard.”

  “Which was why I stuck to sex.” Her quip landed flat before it crashed. Dani wasn’t letting her off that easy. She didn’t know if she should be mad or grateful for that.

  “You deserve more than that, Kennedy.”

  Did she? Sometimes she wondered. “So do you.”

  Dani looked away, her puff of laughter containing a dose of sarcasm. “Yeah, well, maybe that’ll happen someday.” Her one marriage had ended almost before it’d started, and she’d shared little on why.

  They returned to the dining room on that somber note. The room was filled with people she’d known for most of her life. There were newer faces, but her mother had the details on everyone, which she updated Kennedy on regularly. She smiled and chatted and laughed when she was supposed to, but the fakeness seemed more pronounced than ever before.

  When had she started to see it as fake? Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe this was who they all were. She watched her mother work the room, her smile never faltering as she listened intently before commenting on whatever was said. This was her domain, and she loved it. Society was her life, and it worked for her.

  Kennedy didn’t begrudge her that. Not really. But tonight it highlighted what she’d worked so hard to avoid, only to wind up being a different version of the same mold. Her job in the company hadn’t changed her status here. Nor had her years of uninhibited sex or defiant exhibitionism.

  She was still seen as a society girl, playing in the family business until she settled down and popped out kids. Would the company ever be hers or was her dad just waiting to hand it over to her husband? And who would she hand it down to without kids of her own?

  Her laugh held the dry grit of lost dreams and thoughts that had no value. She couldn’t change the past or who she was, but she could manage her future. And for the first time there was a path she hadn’t anticipated.

  Matt was more than she’d expected and everything she’d never wanted—or was it that she thought she couldn’t have it? But now…

  Now she’d see where he led her, and maybe, just maybe, it’d turn out okay.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Each step up the walkway to Kennedy’s door brought a hit of nerves, worry and excitement at once. They were just having dinner—after swinging by his house for a brief introduction.

  His knock on her door echoed over the small patio. Matt tucked his hands behind his back, exhaled. The door opened, Kennedy’s smile confirming what he’d already known to be true. She was worth it.

  “Come in.” She swung the door wide. “I just need to get my coat.”

  “Hey,” he grabbed her hand before she could run off. “Just a minute.”

  She turned around as he closed the door. He doubted he’d ever get over how beautiful she was. Her skirt and sweater were casually nice, her legs long and sexy. But he barely saw them. His focus was stuck on the warmth in her expression that didn’t quite mask the worry beneath.

  “Come here.” He brought her around on a slow tug until she was in his arms. He was taken in by the vulnerability she didn’t try to hide from him. It flared in her eyes and softened her in ways he couldn’t pinpoint as much as sense.

  He tilted his head, eyes narrowing as he brushed the backs of his fingers down her jaw, loving how her chin tilted into his touch. “It’s going to be fine.” She relaxed in his arms, the slight tension fleeing from her muscles.

  “Is it?” She teased his hair with little strokes at the base of his skull.

  He couldn’t promise anything, but he hoped his words were true. They’d figure it out. God, he really hoped they’d figure it out.

  His senses were alive with her sultry scent and addictive touch. Just having her in his arms was an overload of comfort and want. How could those two things mix so well? He wanted to hold her forever and ravish her at the same time.

  He drew her in for the kiss he’d been aching to claim for the last week. The deep, searing one that fed on his longing and filled the need that only grew stronger. He cupped the back of her head, swiping his tongue over hers again and again until his breaths grew short. His heart pounded his desire as his dick grew thick and heavy in his slacks.

  “Matt,” she whispered. Desire along with that wisp of vulnerable wonder spread through the single word. It stoked his desire while diminishing the empty ache he’d smothered for so damn long. Too long.

  She met him on every brush of his lips over hers, giving as much as she received. Always strong, always so damn bold. Fearless despite having fears. Could he ever match her? Be enough for her?

  He backed her up to the wall, dragged a hand down her side until he could slide it beneath her sweater. Her abdomen contracted as he ran his palm over the softness that continued to tempt him. Everything about her tempted him.

  To dive in. To take. To give. To get lost in all that she was.

  She arched into his touch. Her moan trembled over his lips when she drew him closer. “How do you do this?” she mumbled between kisses. A lazy sense of ease permeated the slow exploration, reinforcing the bond that’d drawn them together and c
ontinued to tighten.

  He kissed up her jaw, reaching the sensitive shell of her ear. “Do what?” Her head tilted to give him the space he needed to follow her neck downward. He drew aside the higher collar on her sweater until the fading bruise from his bite mark was exposed.

  He ran his finger over it. Her breath hitched. “Does it hurt?”

  “No.” That blue that he loved in her eyes added a truth to her answer. “Not too much.” Meaning it had, and she’d never said a word.

  He brushed a kiss over it, using his tongue to savor both the impression and the salty hint of her skin. That little mark represented so much and nothing at all. But she’d begged for it. Came with it. She wanted something from it, but not everything. Neither did he. They could manage it. Take what they needed and leave the rest.

  Her gasp floated over his head when he squatted before her. He watched her through the slow rise of his hands up her thighs until her skirt was bunched around her hips.

  “Now?” The arch of her brow was almost a dare. One he couldn’t pass up, not that he wanted to.

  He leaned in to take a long draw of her musky scent. Still slight, still haunting enough to have him salivating for a taste. A silky swath of pink hid her secrets, but he knew them well. How her lips were a dark shade of rose and her clit a slightly elongated nub that hardened so beautifully beneath his touch.

  Her hand settled on his head, not directing, just waiting. He glanced up, drawing a finger along the edge of her panties. Her legs inched wider when he reached between them, her mouth parting on an inhalation.

  “I had to scrub my beard three times to get your scent out of it.” He ran his finger through her folds, groaning at the wetness that greeted him. “And then I missed it.” Those little catches of dark musk that’d sent him straight back to their night.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t be such a sloppy eater.” Her mouth quirked, her smile simmering beneath.

  His laugh crashed against his lips. He held it back for a beat before it burst free. “Oh, my God.” He laid his forehead on her hip, which jerked from her laughter. This right here, this would’ve never happened with his ex. She wouldn’t have dared to snark, let alone think about such a comeback.

  He laid a kiss on the side of her hip. Slid his finger over her clit in a tease that cut her laughter short. The slick folds embraced his finger as he eased it down to dip deep into her heat. Her legs dipped. Her hand tightened on his head.

  Desire crashed against logic, but then it’d been doing that since he’d met her. His dick was a hard reminder of why he continued to ignore what he’d once claimed as his greatest asset. Logic had no place in lust or love—

  But it did have a place when there were people waiting on them.

  He removed his finger, taking a moment to suck it clean before he settled her skirt back around her legs. His thighs burned and his knees protested when he straightened, providing a distinct reminder of his age—which came with those damn responsibilities.

  Her scowl was almost comical. He flicked his brows up.

  “You better finish that later.” She hauled him in for a hot, quick kiss before she stalked away. “I’m going to fix my lipstick.”

  His grin stretched his cheeks and eased into his heart. There was the fire he wanted to see. He treasured her softness and the vulnerability that came with it, but she didn’t need that now. Not when she was meeting his kids for the first time.

  Her confidence was on full display when she stepped from the bathroom. Her posture contained that same bold certainty she’d presented at the benefit. Her freckles provided the only hint to the innocence that lay beneath. She’d probably claim she had none, but she’d be wrong. He’d never counter her belief, but he’d do what he could to show her that love didn’t have to hurt.

  Did he love her? That was twice now that it’d entered his thoughts.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “I was ready before, but somebody had to mess up my makeup.” Her scowl was all tease. She grabbed a coat from the closet, and he helped her into it, letting his hands linger on her shoulders.

  “I’m having a hard time feeling guilty about that.”

  She turned her head, her side-glance one of speculation. “Then maybe you shouldn’t.”

  “No?”

  He offered her his arm and led her out the door, that warm sense of belonging filling every corner and crack within him. Kennedy brightened his life simply by being her. Did he love her? It was still too soon to lock into that, but he had enough miles behind him to know he was fortunate to have found her.

  And he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The semidetached house sat on a street lined with similar yet distinctly different homes. The potential uniformity was offset by the variance in paint colors, roof lines and window décor that made each place unique, unlike her townhome.

  Matt pulled into the driveway. A face popped into the front window, but it disappeared just as quickly. Lights blazed from within, giving it a warm feel against the night. The house’s yellow color would probably be welcoming during the day, the white trim sharp.

  “This is it,” Matt said. He turned off the car, the engine ticking in low beats.

  “It’s cute,” she told him honestly. She’d never been to this part of Daly City. Actually, she’d been to very little of it outside of driving past the exit on her way to San Francisco. But she meant what she said. The little house might be smaller than any she’d lived in, but it looked like a home.

  She let her honesty show when she smiled at Matt. “I can’t wait to see the inside.” He’d told her about how he’d slowly remodeled it since he’d purchased it ten years ago. She imagined he’d given it the same focused dedication he applied to everything he did.

  He leaned over to give her a quick kiss. “We won’t stay long.”

  “It’s fine.” Her reassurance seemed to graze off him. “I won’t bite them.” That got a quirk of his lips. “Or share my sex toys with your daughter. I promise.”

  His chuckle rumbled through the car as he pulled her in to kiss her temple. “For future reference, the words sex and my daughter don’t belong in the same sentence.”

  “You do realize—”

  “Yes. I do. And we’ve had all the talks and she’s on the pill, but I don’t need the images or the details.”

  She nodded long and slow. “Got it.” She certainly didn’t want to think about her parents doing—nope. “Should we go in?”

  He glanced at the house. “We could still sneak away.”

  “I think we were spotted before you stopped the car.”

  “Right.” He hung his head in mock defeat. “Then I guess we better go.”

  She appreciated his attempt at lightness. It helped, just like the kiss, foreplay and quick shot of control at her place had. A large dose of her nerves had vanished beneath his consuming assault that’d ended with her panties wet and lipstick smudged. The excited edge he’d built still lingered beside the steady comfort that flowed from him.

  He led her to the front door, his hand on her lower back providing reassurance she hadn’t known she needed. She was a pro at meeting new people, but no meeting had ever felt as important as this one.

  Her stomach flipped as he opened the door. Her first impression was of cozy comfort. Deep-cushioned sofas, warm tones of browns and beige accented with pops of sage in the pillows. The hardwood gleamed beneath her heels, but a few scuff marks and scratches highlighted its wear.

  Evidence of people was spread throughout the room. Family photos lined one wall. A blanket was tossed randomly on the recliner. A sweatshirt lay across the back of the couch. Shoes were tucked along the wall by the entry. A half-empty glass of soda sat on an end table next to a stack of magazines. There were text books on the coffee table along with an open notebook and calculator.

  She’d been right. This was a home. It wrapped around her in a welcoming hold that shoved some of her concerns aside
while raising new ones. She had no idea how to fit into this environment.

  It didn’t take a ton of smarts to understand that the three people standing in the archway leading to the dining room, every one of them openly assessing her, would see straight through a fake smile or blithe comeback. She was being judged and weighed on her acceptability for their dad. She got that, liked it even. Wealth and connections were the two biggest factors on her family’s suitor checklist. Those items wouldn’t even make it on the list for Matt’s family.

  “Hey, guys,” Matt said as he took her coat and laid it over the corner of the couch. She set her purse on top of it and let him take her hand as he led her the few steps it took to stand before his family.

  “Ben, Dawn, Mom. This is Kennedy.” Pride threaded through his voice, not fading a bit on her name. “Kennedy, this is my family. My son, Ben. Daughter, Dawn, and my mother, Roselyn.”

  Each of them greeted her with varying degrees of warmth. She stepped up to Matt’s mom, tackling the most welcoming smile first. “Mrs. Hamilton. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  His mother’s handshake contained the same efficiency she presented, much like her son. Gray hair cut short on the sides and back with a longer side part that complimented her features but wouldn’t take work. A blue sweater, cotton pants and minimal makeup completed her look that was simple but nice.

  “Likewise,” she answered.

  Kennedy transitioned to his kids on the next beat. “Matt’s told me about you both,” she said, taking in the two of them. She could see Matt in them, especially Ben. He had the same strong bearing, square jaw and dark hair of his father. His face still had the freshness of youth, but he was already handsome.

  Dawn extended her hand, a stiffness present in her movements. “Hi. Thank you for coming over.” The sweetness in her voice brought back memories of freedom, parties and life before it was loaded with responsibilities. Even with her hair pulled into a ponytail and her baggy sweatshirt hiding her figure, she was a beauty. A wide mouth, big eyes, strong features that were also soft, made his daughter stand out.